A Bloody Cherry Blossom
by Blackangel280
Summary: Sweet sixteen, the day every teenager dreams of, a marking of their partial-freedom. Oh, if only. In Sakura Haruno's world, this day brings forth more restrictions, chains, and blood then freedom. SasuSaku


"Happy birthday!"

The tiny 16 year-old girl felt slightly light headed at the scene that had just burst forth before her. Her two best friends, Naruto and Sasuke, had gone to some...extreme measures for her birthday.

"Heh, um, wow. That's...wow." She said, at a loss for words, "Will you please explain to me why you're dressed like that?"

Both boys – she had to quickly remind herself that they _were_ boys – were dressed in a...well, a different manor then they usually were.

Naruto had on a striped tank top, and he was actually wearing a bra, a stuffed bra, thank the lord, but a bra none the less. He had a dark denim mini skirt and his legs, very womanly actually, were shaved clean. His spiky blond hair was straightened, his bangs clipped back from his face with pink hair clips.

Sasuke, who looked drastically less excited about this then Naruto, was in a black tee shirt, he too had a stuffed bra, and light denim skinny jeans. His hair was combed down and half was draped over his eye, his mouth was turned down into a furious scowl.

"Well, Sakura." Naruto said, walking up to her, "You always say stuff like we're your only friends and you have no girlfriends so we decided to become girls for you."

Sakura stared at the two for a minute, her head tilted to the side, before she snorted, giggled, and bursted out laughing.

"Geeze, can you be more immature?" Sasuke muttered, glaring at the pink-haired girl with her hand clasped over her mouth.

Eventually her laughter simmered down to a few choice giggles and she was able to talk, "Thanks you guys. You're really the best."

It was true that she had zero girlfriends, the only one she'd ever had was in 1st grade, Ino Yamanaka. The girls were now about as friendly as two warships.

"So, what do you want to do, Sakura?" Naruto asked, bobbing excitedly, his crystal blue eyes wide and bright with anticipation.

"Wow Naruto." Sasuke said, his voice a bored drawl, "You really seem to be enjoying acting like a girl. Are you sure you're not gay?"

Naruto's gaze darkened and as he was opening his mouth to chew out the raven haired teen, Sakura cut in,

"If he was gay, why is does he have a _huge_ crush on Hinata, smart one? Anyway, I think you both look good as girls, now let's go _shopping!_"

Naruto's blushing shout of, 'I do not like Hinata!', and Sasuke's indignant cry of, 'Dear God help me!' were lost to the 16 year-old girl's ears as she hooked her arms with the two boys-turned-girls and dragged them along with extreme strength and struggling, towards the large mall standing proudly in the center of town.

After 4 long hours of teasing, groaning, complaining and shouting, the three friends sat on a bench outside the silvery colored mall with less then 5 bags each.

"That was so much fun!" Sakura said happily, her grin radiant and causing both the boys beside her to go a little pink in the face, "You guys are the best." She wrapped her arms around both their necks and sighed contentedly.

"Hey, who's the weird guy?" Naruto pointed one of his fingers (the nail, by the way, was a vibrant pink) towards a man standing a few feet away, eye transfixed on the three teens.

He had silver hair, gelled up in near impossible spikes, and a black headband tied over his left eye. His right visible eye was black and void of all emotions.

Seeing Sakura look towards him, he smiled, beneath a black mask, his eye scrunching in a friendly way, he didn't seem dangerous.

He began to make his way over and Naruto and Sasuke unconsciously scooted closer towards Sakura, who's sea foam green eyes hadn't left the man since she'd established eye contact.

The man stopped in front of them, he wore a dark green vest with a long sleeved, navy blue shirt, black pants, and blue sandals.

"Yo." He greeted casually, as if he'd known the kids for a long time, "You're Sakura Haruno, right?"

Sakura nodded, her eyes transfixed and spacey, as if she was mezmerized by the man's very presence. The two cross-dressing boys both felt uneasy and it showed on their faces.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm a close friend of your father's, I was wondering if you would accompany me-" The silver haired man was cut off by a frazzled, furious shout,

"Kakashi! Get away from her!"

Four heads turned as Iruka, Sakuar's guardian (not father, mind you) came running towards them, tan face flushed from exercise and a deep scowl on his face.

"Iruka, you have no say in this, it is tradition-"

"Sakura has been living with me. I took her away so she wouldn't be a part of this whole mess. I will _not_ allow you to drag her into it." Iruka said, an air of finality in his voice that most people feared and respected.

"I cannot drag her back in because she was never taken out. No matter how far you run, Iruka, her heritage will catch up with her." Kakashi said, "I'll leave you for now, but the trackers will know of this."

The silver haired man, who had lost all traces of his friendly demeanor, turned on his heel and strode away calmly, hands shoved into the pockets of his vest.

Sakura had snapped out of her trance and her eyes now flicked confusedly between Iruka and Kakashi, a small frown spoiling her features.

Iruka turned to the three, mouth open, when his dark eyes found Naruto and Sasuke, "I...I really don't want to know." He said, his tone almost...giving up? The boys could be a handful, that was for sure.

"Iruka, what was that all about? What were you guys talking about? Who was that, and—what?"

Iruka had his hand over his face, his shoulder trembling slightly.

"Sasuke, it's the fact that you look ridiculous, that's what, here. So, will you explain to us what exactly is going on?" Sakura asked, stepping in front of the black haired boy to face her guardian.

"Will you three follow me? It would be better to discuss this in private rather then public. It's safer that way." The dark skinned man beckoned them to follow as they made their way back to Iruka's house.

After Naruto and Sasuke had changed into some spare clothing they left her for emergencies, the four sat in the living room, Sakura on the green couch and Naruto and Sasuke to her left and right, respectively. Iruka sat across from them and all was silent for a moment.

"You can start any time." Sakura said impatiently, drawing her knees up towards herself and wrapping her skinny arms around them.

Iruka sighed heavily, folding his hands over his knees, "Sakura, I believe that now is the proper time to tell you why and how you came to live with me."

She nodded in understanding, silently urging him to continue.

He looked up and in all seriousness spoke life-altering words,

"You're from a family...of vampires."


End file.
